


Alcohol is a Solution

by Dat_awkward_fangirl



Category: Scorpion (TV 2014)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-19
Updated: 2015-12-20
Packaged: 2018-05-07 12:55:43
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,961
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5457227
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dat_awkward_fangirl/pseuds/Dat_awkward_fangirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Walter and Paige wake up in bed together and avoid talking about what happened.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Next Morning

"Shit." Paige whispers to herself when she slightly opens her eyes seeing the morning light and feeling the pounding in her head. She groans and buries her head into the pillow.

After a few minutes she decides that Ralph is probably waiting for her to get up. She turns to lay on her stomach and prop herself up on her arms. The moment she fully opens her eyes she realizes that something is different. This is not her pillow. This is not her blanket. This is not her bed. The biggest difference that she realizes is that she isn't alone in this bed that's not hers. Her head is throbbing and she has a bad taste in her mouth.

Too scared to look at who she is laying next to, her eyes wander at the room to see if maybe she recognizes it. Oh no she does. She could recognize this room any day, even in her hung-over state. This is Walter O'Brien's room. Mr. 197. The super-genious who saved her from being a waitress all her life. The man who could connect with her son. Most importantly, her boss. She now knows exactly who is in bed with her, but she still has to look.

He looks so young like this. His eyes closed and his curly hair messy looks actually quite adorable. She wants to reach out to him and touch his cheek. Maybe press her lips against his. Maybe get closer... then she snaps back to the problem at hand. She is in bed with her boss. She slowly tries to sit up without waking him when she realizes that she is naked. She gasped louder than she intended when she pulled the blanket up to cover her chest.

That gasp was a little too loud when she realizes that he starts moving. At first he was moving slowly, but the moment he saw her in bed next to him, he nearly jumped. They both stare at each other for what feels like an eternity to both of them.

"I guess I'll go first." Paige mumbles nervously. "I don't remember anything from last night or how I got here. But assuming from the situation we are in right now and the fact that I'm naked, I doubt it was anything we are proud of." She realized she was almost trying to speak like Walter.

Right when she mentioned that she was naked, Walter couldn't help but look at her and turn slightly red. "You are probably right. From this pounding in my head and m-my lack of memory from last night I'm figuring that alcohol was involved." Walter stuttered nervously and pulled on his face with his hands to hopefully wake himself up more. "Where's Ralph?" He questions.

Paige's eyes widen as she looks around and starts getting out of bed. Walter respectively looks away as she searches for her clothes. "Ralph?" She calls repeatedly after she puts on her clothes. As soon as she is out of the room and searches around the loft, Walter gets up and looks for his clothes. When Walter has his pants on, Paige comes back into his room. "Did you find him?" Walter asks.

"No. He's probably still at my apartment with the sitter. I should call him." Paige searches for her purse while Walter finishes getting dressed. "Ugh I can't find my purse and my head is pounding." She whines as she puts her face into her hands. Walter walks over to her and grabs her arms, forcing her to look up at him. "Hey its okay. I'll help you look and we can talk about this later when we are feeling better. Okay?" He looks sincerely into her eyes and she takes a deep breath and nods. They both look around the loft for about 10 minutes before they decide to start looking downstairs.

As Paige follows Walter down the stairs, they both stop in their tracks when they realize they aren't alone. "Well goodmorning Mr. 197 and Miss Liason." Toby cheerfully announces with a smirk on his face. "Did you forget you have a son, Paige?" Toby points to Ralph playing Proton Arnold. "He called me around 9pm last night wondering where his mother is and why she isn't answering her phone. I relieved the sitter, spent the night at your place to watch him, and took him here this morning. But I'm also wondering where his mother was."

"Toby. Not now." Paige says flatly as she walks over to Ralph. Happy looks away from them and goes back to her work. Sylvester stares uncomfortably.

Walter walks over to his desk to avoid Toby's curious eyes. Toby walks right behind him with a big grin on his face. "So I'm gonna state the facts." Walter slightly groans as he stands in front his desk with his arms crossed. "Paige doesn't go home to her son last night, I get here with Ralph this morning to find Paige's car here, I hear some movement from upstairs and Paige calling for Ralph, you both come down, and look at you two. I'm specialized in hang-overs and you two must have gotten severely drunk last night. Assuming by the strong stench of alcohol, the fact that you two are wearing the same clothes from yesterday, and how messy you both look, you two must have down the wild thing last night."

"You are just assuming, Toby. I don't need any of your dimestore analysis. Paige came here this morning to talk I don't know why she didn't make it home to Ralph last night. That's not my problem."

* * *

 

"Come on, Ralph. The carpool will be here any minute." Paige opens the door for her son and they wait for the carpool outside. The sunlight hurts her eyes and she rubs her head, hating herself. 

"Mom?" 

"Yes honey?"

"Where were you last night? You never came home and you didn't answer your phone." Ralph asked quietly while looking up at his mom.

"I-I got really caught up doing paperwork last night sweetie. My phone was dead. I fell asleep on the couch here. I'm so sorry." Paige lies as she ruffles Ralph's hair. 

"I was worried about you." Ralph mumbles while looking at the ground. 

"I'm so so sorry baby." Paige hugs Ralph gently.

"What's 'the wild thing', mom?" 

"What? When did you hear that?" Paige asked, shocked to hear her son say that.

"I heard Happy and Toby talking earlier and Toby said that he bets that you and Walter did 'the wild thing' last night." 

She is gonna kill Toby. Paige was saved from having to explain the birds and the bees to her son when the carpool showed up. "We will talk about it later. Have a great day at school sweetie. Remember, be determined-"

"-to have a good day and you will." Ralph finished his mother's favorite line to say to him every morning before school. Paige smiled and kissed her son on his forehead and waved goodbye as he got into the car. 

* * *

 

"TOBY!" Paige yelled as she walked back into the garage. Her yelling interrupted whatever Walter and Toby were talking about and Toby looked scared. "Thanks to you, I have to explain to my son what 'the wild thing' is. He's far to young for that! You need to be more careful about what you say around my son." She stands in front of them with her arms crosssed.

"I'm sorry, Paige, but I'm not the one who slept with my boss last night." Toby pokes the bear. 

"It is not what you think, Toby. I was working on the paperwork from our last job last night and I fell asleep." Paige gave the same lie she told Ralph. 

"Really? Well Walter told me you came here early this morning. So it seems like you guys have something to hide." Toby smiled. He was enjoying this more than he should.

"WE'VE GOT A CASE! Cabe came bursting in through the door. The moment he saw the group he could tell there was some tension. "What's wrong?"

"Walter and Paige has sex last night." Toby said as he pranced over to Cabe and out the door. 

"Toby!" Walter and Paige yelled in unison.


	2. Father Figures

"Can we please have one damn job where we don't almost die?" Happy mumbles as she walks in with her tool box and the rest of the team following in behind her.

"Technically we did have a dam job, but you did almost die." Toby says flatly as if near death was just a casual daily event for everyone.

"Seriously?" Sylvester adds in following behind them. 

"Good job on the case today team. Happy only punched one guy and Toby only made about 16 irritating jokes." Walter announced as he walked in.

"Aww you kept track." Toby smiled.

They all went straight to their desks. Happy continued working on her dollhouse lights, Toby continued his book 'Overcoming Addictions', Sylvester looked at his pictures of Megan and was humming a song that none of them could recognize, Walter turned on his computer, Paige set down all the paperwork from today's job while Walter watched her, and Cabe stood next to Walter and eyed the two of them.

"Walter. Can I have a minute?" Cabe spoke quietly.

"Yeah sure."

Walter walked away from his computer and followed Cabe over to where the rocket used to be. He couldn't help but feel a slight bit of sadness when he was over here. He knew he did the right thing by using the rocket to send Megan's ashes to space, but he still missed being able to see it and feel a little bit of hope that he could save his sister. Finally being able to grieve his sister has helped him so much. Never did Walter believe he would ever cry in front of the rest of the cyclone, let alone on Paige's shoulder. Paige was there for him. Walter was lost in thought about that moment when Cabe pulled him out of it.

"Usually I would never ask about your love life, but it seems that you need some help from a man with a lot of experience. About what Toby said this morning,-" 

"Toby was just speculating. He completely misunderstood a difficult situation and had far to much enjoyment using his so called 'talents' to analyze it." Walter spoke far to quickly for Cabe to fully understand what Walter was trying to expalin. 

"You don't have to lie to me, Walter. I don't need to be a super-genious in Psychology to know when you are lying to me. Or when a guy is hung-over.  You were only at half of your best today. Even though that is still far better than anyone can hope to be, it's not like you. You can be honest with me. I've been in your life for too long to not have you be open with me. Please, Walt." Cabe spoke so sincerely and kindly that he sounded like a father.

"Um alright. This morning I lied to Paige. I told her I couldn't remember last night when in reality I do. It was in fact very hazy, but alcohol doesn't affect a photographic memory. I just did not want her to know that." Walter shoved his hands into his pockets and shifted his weight uncomfortably.

"While that is more open than I've ever heard you be, I need the full story to be able to help." Cabe pressed.

Walter stared at the ground while trying to figure out how to continue the most awkward conversation they had ever had. He still hadn't fully comprehended the situation himself so he wasn't sure how to explain it. He ran one of his hands through his hair and looked behind Cabe to make sure Toby wasn't trying to listen in on their conversation. He was currently watching Happy work while making small jokes about a book he read. Happy looked unamused, but still humored him by responding causing Toby to smile.

For the last month, Walter has been pretending to not know about the kiss they shared on Christmas eve. He was in a way jealous of them for being together while managing to stay professional and not letting it affect the job. As long as Walter didn't have to see it, he didn't mind.

"I've been trying to be more normal for a while now. I was curious about the attraction to alcohol. The only experience I have had with it is the night before Eliot's building opening and we both know that didn't go very well. I thought it would be more efficient to go with someone more normal who has had experience with alcohol before. We probably drank more than our bodies could take and weren't making very rational decisions. One thing lead to another and well.." Walter wasn't sure exactly of what words to use to explain. Cabe gave him the time he needed to continue.

"Our intoxication lead to sex. This m-morning we were both shocked to see each other to say the least. We haven't talked about the subject since, but I feel that the awkwardness between us will cause difficulties in our ability to work together. So I need your help." Walter admitted as he looked anywhere but at Cabe.

"I knew you and Paige had something, but I didn't figure this would happen so suddenly. I wish I could say that I haven't been in your position. The most important question here is this: Do you want more with Paige? Relationship wise." 

Walter thought about it for a moment, scratched the side of his face, and responded, "Yes I do. That is what I want. Whether or not that is a cogitative decision for the company is where I get stuck." 

"While I may be old and experienced, I don't have all the answers. I have no way of telling you what each choice will bring. I can tell you which I know is more imporant. One of the biggest mistakes I ever made was choosing the job over the women I loved. Now I'm not saying that you love her and should completely disregard the team, but if you really honestly care for her and have strong feelings for her then you should take a risk." 

"What about Ralph? He is such a big part of my life and I couldn't bare to lose him if things didn't work out." Walter then noticed that Toby was looking at them and went straight back to looking at Happy when their eyes met. He couldn't really care at this moment if Toby knew.

"But what if things do work out? You are like a father to that boy and he is like a son to you. If you and Paige were together, you would be in his life more." He smiled.

"But what if-" 

Cabe put both his hands on Walter's shoulders and laughed, "While I'm glad you are finally expressing yourself, I don't want you to talk yourself out of this. Talk to her. Go be happy. This isn't something you want to regret." 

* * *

 

"Mom?" Ralph said as he approached his mother who was focused on her work.

"Yes sweetie?" Paige answered without looking away from the computer screen.

"Can you tell me what 'the wild thing' is now?"

That sentence took her attention away from the screen. She looked over at her son, who had the most innocent face that she couldn't believe she had to tell him this. "Ralph, when two adults truly love each other-" The moment she spoke the word 'love' she could tell that she had lost him. While she tried to come up with an idea of how to explain this in a way he would understand, Walter walked up and ruffled Ralph's hair. 

"Hey buddy." Walter smiled down at Ralph and Ralph smiled up at Walter. The moment was so adorable that Paige couldn't help but smile widely. 

"Hi Walter. Can you tell me what 'the wild thing' is?" Ralph asked as Walter noticed Happy and Toby trying to sneak out together. Toby was so dead. Tomorrow. 

"Ralph. Do you understand reproduction?" Walter spoke slowly to make sure what he was saying was alright with Paige. Ralph nodded and Paige smiled slightly.

"While 'the wild thing' is a horribly inaccurate way of putting it, it is the act of causing reproduction. That's the more simplified version." 

"So that's what you and mom were doing?" Ralph asked flatly. 

Walter turned noticeably red and looked at a lost for words. Paige knew he needed help, "No, sweetie. In the furture, don't take everything Toby says to heart." 

Ralph looked uninterested in this conversation now and headed towards Proton Arnold. Walter laughed lightly and looked at Paige. She is just so beautiful. And not just in her features, but also in the way she carried herself and the way she smiled so sincerely at him. "Thank you. I never thought of explaining it in a scientific way. You understand him so much more than I do. I'm so grateful for that." 

Walter was prepared to tell her that she was a far better parent to him than any of the rest of the team had,  but was just so distracted by her beauty that he didn't get words out. All he could do was look at her. After a minute, Cabe interrupted, "I was thinking maybe I could take Ralph out for some ice cream to thank him for his help today. Would that be okay?" Walter knew that Cabe was also doing this so Walter would have no excuse to not talk to Paige tonight.

"That would be great. Drew is in town, do you think afterwords you could drop him off at Drew's hotel room? I still have a lot of work I need to get done." 

"Yeah sure. Hey Sly!" Cabe called to Sylvester and his headed popped up in attention. "Want to come with?" 

Sylvester nodded, jumped up, grabbed his jacket, and rushed over to Cabe and Ralph who just turned off the game. Paige wrote down Drew's hotel number and what hotel he is staying in and handed it to Cabe. Ralph hugged his mother and ran to grab his backpack. While Walter said goodbyes, Paige got up and headed to the kitchen for coffee. She knew it would be a long night. 

"Hey." Walter said as he walked up to Paige in the kitchen. 

"Hey, great job on the case today. You did amazing as always." She smiled as she took a sip. She walked back over to her desk and set down her coffee. She noticed that Walter was following her so she turned towards him. 

"Is everything okay?" 

"Yes. Do you have a moment to talk?" Walter felt the nervousness all throughout his body. 

"Always." She smiled. 


	3. Deja Vu

"Yes. Do you have a moment to talk?" Walter felt the nervousness all throughout his body. 

"Always." She smiled. 

"I hope I did an acceptable job at explaining that to Ralph."

"You did better than me. I started to talk explaining it using love and his eyes completely glazed over." She sighed. 

"Don't take it personally. Geniuses will ignore everything that is involved with emotions and feelings. Anything that can't be explained with science will go right over our heads." 

"Everything to do with emotions?" Paige raised an eyebrow. 

"Almost everything." Walter mumbled quietly.

"Hmm." She smiled as she took another sip of her coffee.

"I figured that now would be an efficient time to discuss what happened last night." Walter stared at the floor.

"Yeah I thought that too. Today has been...uncomfortable. Do you remember anything from last night? Because all I can remember is a lot of shots and some terrible karaoke." She giggled.

"Yeah that's the part I wish I could forget. Please don't tell any of the team about that." He shoved his hands into his pockets and shifted his weight.

She laughed, "I won't, I wont. But you need to tell me what you remember."

"I actually remember all of it." Walter said slowly in fear of her response.

"You said you didn't remember anything." Paige eyed him while crossing her arms.

"Actually you said that. But I will admit I didn't deny it. I just hadn't fully analyzed how I felt about," Walter scratched the side of his face, "the whole thing." 

"Have you analyzed it yet?" Paige tilted her head and looked at Walter with her doe eyes.

Walter hadn't realized how close they were standing together. He took his hands out of his pockets and let them hang by his sides. Emotions were always difficult for him, but these feelings were always the hardest. He never believed in love and for the longest time he never thought he would. 

"Yes, I have. And I have come to the conclusion that I don't regret it. While I'd admit it was an unexpected-uh-turn of events, it forced me to have this conversation with you. I want you, Paige. I have felt this way for a while and I'm not sure how to express this into words that-"

Walter's words were stopped abruptly by Paige's lips on his. He stiffened for a moment in shock, but after realizing the situation he was in, he relaxed slightly. Her hands were on his neck and running through his hair. All that could be heard in the garage was Ferret Bueller making quiet noises and the sound of their breathing. 

Hands are moving more rapidly as their kissing intensity increases. Paige uses the collar of Walter's shirt to pull him closer and Walter uses Paige's hips to keep her close. The last thing that either of them wanted was any space between them. Paige quickly and clumsily unbuttoned the top few buttons of his shirt when Walter pulled away. He stared at her with wide eyes, looking at her face for answers to a question he didn't verbally ask.

"I want you too." She grinned flirtatiously and pulled him by his shirt over to the couch and pushed him onto it. "I know this is something that you can't express easily with words," she straddled his hips, hitching her skirt up, "so how about we use actions." She said quietly as if it was a statement and not a question.

Walter gulped as her slender fingers worked at his buttons. She pulled his shirt off of his shoulders and begun kissing his neck and down his chest slowly. He really didn't know what he was doing, but he found himself gripping her waist and pushing her blouse up slightly. She gasped quietly against his neck. She withdrew her lips from his neck and slammed them back onto his lips.

She teased him with her tongue as she kissed him. As she tightened her legs around his hips, Walter peeled her blouse off and tossed it aimlessly. He knew she wouldn't be needing it. He placed his hands on the small of her back and pulled her closer as he kissed her with more force. Her fingers made their way down the sides of his chest and stomach and slid under the waistband of his jeans. He moaned against her mouth. Walter felt for the clasp of her bra and detached. Holding onto Paige, he scrambled to his feet. She wrapped her legs around his waist and he and held on to the back of his neck as she kissed him hard on the mouth.

Walter found his way through the loft and they both landed ungracefully onto his bed.

"This feels awfully familiar, huh?" Paige giggled as she unbuttoned his jeans.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading my very first fanfiction. I promise I will write more. It would really mean a lot to me if you told me what you thought of this :)

**Author's Note:**

> Please be kind because I am new.


End file.
